Choosing Sides
by underwriter1978
Summary: 30 year old, Auror Tom Riddle finds himself thrown into a world very different then his own. A world where he was the villain. Having to make a life for himself in this strange world while searching for a way home he finds himself having to make some very difficult decisions along the way.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Summary: 30 year old, Auror Tom Riddle finds himself thrown into a world very different then his own. A world where he was the villain, a pure-blood extremists who had begun a revolution, bent on exterminating muggle-borns and ultimately ruling the wizarding world. **

_Chapter One_

_Caelan Xander_

He watched her from afar as she pushed her son on the swing. Her dark hair brushed over her eyes in the breeze, her little boy squealing in glee and he went higher and higher in the air. He wanted to smile and cry all at the same time. He had missed her so much, it had been just over six months since he had responded to a security breach in the Department of Mysteries. Before he could even assess what had happened, he was struck by a blinding flash of light. A wave of dizziness swept over him and he found himself falling to the ground. When he finally came to he was no longer in the department of Mysteries, but in the middle of a wheat field in Oxfordshire.

It took several days for him to fully come to terms with what had happened. Even now, some days he will wake up expecting to roll onto his side and see his wonderful wife laying beside him, but she was never there. He had lost so much, his wife, his son's, his parents...at times the pain was almost overwhelming.

He had been in this alternative universe for a little over a month when he found out what had become of Tom Riddle in this dimension and it was far from reassuring. This world Tom, after graduating from Hogwarts, began work in a sleazy shop in Knockturn Alley and while it seemed most people though him charming, he did have a darker reputation. He was only there a few months before he seemingly disappeared. Some had thought he had left the country while others said they had seen him around, or at least recently.

It wasn't terribly difficult to obtain the information he needed to locate him. A few bribes for information and possibly a little blackmail and he found what he was searching for. Being able to read minds was certainly a plus in his field of work. People are very open to sharing what they know when you threaten to tell their boss they have been stealing from the till or that threaten to tell their husband/wife they have been sleeping with their spouses best man, a short sour looking fellow mentioned that he might find who he was looking for at the meeting that was being held that Friday. "Anyone who holds onto the purist traditionalist ideals will be there."

After some heavy glamour charms, Tom went on a reconnaissance mission deep into the darker parts of their society to try and get answers.

Taking one look at the 'honored guest speaker' and he knew he had found his other self. He stood tall, and quite sure of himself as he spoke. He was calling himself the Dark Lord Voldemort. Such as odd name Voldemort, he wondered how he had come up with it. He had all the right promises, it was music to the ears of that particular part of society, who clung to their bigoted extremist ways. The meeting was informative to say the least, though he would admit he was surprised to find some of Wizarding Great Britain's most prominent families in attendance. Then again, they were all families known to have darker leanings. Malfoy, Black, LeStrange. Needless to say he didn't stay to chat afterwards.

Weather or not Voldemort's revolution would make any real headway, Tom couldn't say, but he would certainly be keeping his ears open. In the meantime, Tom had no choice but to go and make a new life for himself. He had always been quite gifted in Transfiguration, to the point in fact that he was skipped two years ahead in the curriculum of his peers, so while he wasn't officially a Transfiguration Master as he never got his certification, he was able to permanently transfigure items easily enough, including human body parts. So he made his nose a little longer, his eyes a little wider, he gave himself dimples and raised his cheekbones. It gave himself a subtle enough difference that he doubted most would see much if any resemblance to Tom Riddle.

He also gave himself a new name: Caelan, it was his adoptive fathers name and it meant powerful warrior. As for his last name he choose Xander, which means protector of men. He debated if he even wanted a middle name but then decided to take on the names he had given his sons, Zane-Edric. He may never see his boys again but this way he will always have a part of them with him.

He had some documents forged, a muggle birth certificate and passport which he then went and registered with The Ministry of Magic. This allowed him to take his OWLS and NEWTS which he naturally did amazingly well on. It wasn't all that unusual to have older witches and wizards request to take the exams. Some want a promotion but need a higher score to receive it, others may have been home-schooled or attend a school out of the country and did not need such scores until recently for one reason or another.

There were only two possible positions within the Ministry that he had in mind, either as an Auror, as he had been for the past twelve years or in the Department of Mysteries as an unspeakable. It was a very difficult position to obtain, but he knew that if he was ever going to get back home, he would need access to where this whole mess began.

In the meantime he had secured a flat, not far from where Eileen was currently living. Even though she wasn't his Eileen, he still needed to make sure she was safe and happy. The problem was, from what he had seen she was far from either. She and her son escaped often to the park when her muggle husband was home. Away from his abusive slurs and ridiculous demands.

With a final push the little boy jumped off the swing then landing perfectly on his feet moments later. Then taking his mothers hand they walked together out of the park and towards Spinners End. Tom sighed at the site of the woman he loved dressed a frumpy, faded muggle dress. Her son's clothes weren't any better. The trousers he wore came to his shins, while his jumper was probably two sizes too big, and looked as though it had not been washed in some time.

Tom had always dressed his wife and sons well, growing up in an orphanage for the first nine years of your life he had very little, it wasn't until he was adopted that he had ever worn new clothes or even had a full stomach. He made sure his family never suffered the way he had.

As they faded from view, Tom turned and headed into the wooded area behind the park where he apperated to Diagon Alley. He needed to open a Gringotts account.

XXXX

Tom, or as he was now called, Caelan sat in the waiting room at St. Mungo's, his arms crossed in pure annoyance as he waited for news on his partner. Hester Bannit was a bumbling fool and he had no idea why the dunderhead was allowed to join the Auror Corps in the first place. After saving the idiots life he was ordered by his senior officer to wait and see how he was faring. It was times like this that he wished more then ever that he had been accepted as an unspeakable. As interested as the Department of Mysteries was in his application they said he needed more practical training and suggested he reapply for the position after a couple of years in the Corps. Tom had put on his resume that he had worked as a freelance curse breaker and security guard for the past ten years, a lie but a believable one. Apparently that wasn't good enough and they needed to see how he 'worked as part of a team'.

So there he was playing babysitter to in incompetent nitwit.

"Please, can he at least have a pain potion while we wait."

Caelan's head snapped up and to the right at the sound of the sweetest voice he had ever known. The voice of his beautiful wife. She stood there in that same drab dress she had worn the last time he had seen her. Her small son was beside her, clutching his right arm with his left.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but he cannot be given any medication without a healers permission." The clerk at the check in desk looked sympathetically at the child who was very clearly in pain. " I will see if I can push him towards the front of the cue."

"Thank you," Eileen said giving the witch a kind smile. She then turned and carefully led her son to the closest seat, which just happen to be right next to Caelan.

He wasn't going to say anything, it wasn't his business, at least not in this world. In a different life time she had been his wife but not here. And the boy, yes he looked quite like her, but with a long hooked nose and lanky frame.

The boys dark eyes drifted up and caught his own. A smile pulled to his lips as he asked, "Are you an Auror?"

Caelan gave the boy a small smile and nodded, "I am."

"Neat. I've seen muggle bobbies before but never an Auror. Why are you here? Did you get hurt?"

"No, my partner did. I'm waiting to make sure he's okay." He replied doing his best not to sound too annoyed at his current predicament.

"That's quite kind of you." Caelans gaze moved up to Eileen who was giving him what he thought was an oddly curious look. "I'm sorry, but you sound familiar...I can't place your face but your voice...have we met before."

He felt his heart thump in his chest. He didn't know why but hearing her voice as she spoke to him, he felt a lump suddenly catch in his throat. It was as if he was seeing _his _Eileen for the first time in months.

"I..I'm not sure, though you do seem familiar as well." He replied.

"Did you attend Hogwarts?" She asked

"No," He replied with a sigh. Of course he had, but there was no record of him attending this worlds Hogwarts. As far as his records are concerned he was home schooled his entire magical education.

"Hum...did your family know the Princes by chance?"

"I'm not sure. I know that's a pure-blood line, my adoptive parents were muggleborn, so...probably not."

"For Severus Snape." A deep voice echoed out over the lobby catching Eileen attention immediately. "Oh, that's us." Helping her son up, she quickly lead her to the man in medi-wizard robes standing near the check in desk. He watched as she walked down the corridor with her son until they were once again out of sight.

Ten minutes later his partner emerged, his arm immobilized, a patch around his right eye. He gave Caelan an embarrassed look with his good eye before dropping his gaze to the ground. "Thanks...for saving me."

"Yeah, well your welcome I suppose. Next time, just think before you go running into a den of dark wizards, wands blazing."

"Right." Was all he said before ducking out into the nearest floo.

"Stupid Gryffindors." Caelan hissed under his breath. He was about to turn and leave himself but stopped short when he heard the same medi-wizard who had escorted Eileen and Severus to a room began whispering to the front desk clerk about the boy.

"The kids wrist was snapped completely in half. Not to mention there was a very large hand shaped bruise on his forearm. The mum said she tried to catch him when he fell, but the hand print looked too big to be hers if you ask me. Healer Johnson said there's not enough evidence to file a child abuse report but I'm pretty sure a man was responsible for it. His mum did all the talking and he kept his head down the whole time. He only talked with the healer asked him a direct question."

Caelan forced himself not to react to what he had just heard. He had a feeling their home life wasn't great, at least from what he could tell from the few times he had seen them, they lived a meager existence, but he never imagined… why would she even allow her husband to do that. She was a witch, he was a muggle, and a weak one at that. She could have, in the very least, stunned him, or even appearated with her son out of the house. Taking a calm, deep breath, he turned to the medi wizard.

"Excuse me. I'm friends with the family your speaking of," He spoke immediately getting both the medi-wizard and the clerks attention. "I have had concerns for a while regarding the child's father," He exaggerated. "I am willing to file a report if I can get your account of today's events."

"I would be happy to help." The medi-wizard whose name tag read P. Kline, replied. Phillip had seen his fair share of abuse cases, some physical, like the child today, but others were damage from spells, hexes and even curses, but very rarely did they ever get reported. Only if the person bringing the child in actually requests to speak to an Auror was anything done about it.

Caelan would see Eileen and her son safe, one way or the other. If he had to hall the bastard off to Azkaban himself he would.

XXX

They had showed up at the house on a Thursday. The layabout was home, laying on the couch sipping on a beer. Eileen had been sitting at the kitchen table, teaching her son addition facts when there was a knock at the door.

"Eileen!" Tobias screamed at his wife, "Get the bloody door."

WIth a sigh Eileen told her son to keep practicing and answered the door. She had more regrets concerning Tobias then she cared to admit. She had thought she had loved him, at least at one time she did. Now, she didn't even know anymore. She had, however, made her bed and now she had to lay in it. Plus even if she wanted to leave she didn't have anywhere to go. Her parents disowned her when she married Tobias and while she would have no problem getting a job to earn her own money, she couldn't work because she had to watch and teach Severus every day. She didn't want him in the public school around all of the unruly muggles so she choose to home school him.

The very last thing she expected to see when she opened the front door were two Auror's one of whom she recognized as the man she had seen at St. Mungo's. As before, he seemed familiar to her but she still could not figure out where she knew him from. They were dressed in muggle suits and had name tags over the right breast pocket with their first initial and last name, along with the title '_MoM Auror Dept'._

"Can I help you?"

"Mrs. Snape, we are here to take a Mr. Tobias Snape into custody." The familiar man looked down at her sympathetically as he handed her a piece of parchment containing the warrant for his arrest.

Her eyes widened in shock as she read through the charges of abuse and neglect of a wizarding minor. She was afraid something like this might happen if she took Severus to St. Mungo's but she didn't want her poor boy to be in a cast for months.

"I-I...I think there had been a misunderstanding." She tried to explain, her mind racing as she attempted to come up with a viable excuse to save her magic-fobic husband from hauled away by Aurors

"There's no misunderstanding ma'am. There were several witnesses at St. Mungo's, as well as the child's medical file that gives us enough cause to bring him in for questioning. Now if you will please allow us in." Caelan requested, his dark eyes sympathetically pleading with her own.

With a sad sigh she allowed them in. She watched in defeat as they arrested her husband, whom in his usual combative fashion, yelled and cursed, blaming her the entire time. "You bloody witch! You told them! I swear when I get back…"

At this point young Severus had heard the commotion and rushed into the front room just in time to see his father's hands magically bound behind his back.

Tobias glared at his son, "This is your fault. If you were a normal lad and wanted to watch the bloody game with me like I told you, this never would have happened."

The small boy instantly ducked behind his mum, afraid to look at his furious father. Even though he was a muggle and restrained by magic, he couldn't help but he was frightened by the man who two days previous had badly broken his wrist.

"Mr. Snape," Caelan spoke up," You are incriminating yourself further by threatening you family. You may want to keep your trap shut."

Not that he really cared, the more rubbish this fool spouted the better chances they had of keeping him away from Eileen and her son. Still, he was required by law to inform him as such and in so read him official rights.

"You are under arrest on suspicion of abuse of a magical minor in your care. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defense if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."

It would seem, however, Tobias Snape was incapable of using common sense and continued to blather on as he was escorted out of the house and into a ministry car.

**A/N: I had a dream where Tom Riddle was the good guy and Dumbeldore was the bad guy and so I came up with this. Different, but fun to write.**


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